Don't Stop Me Now
by Illusive Writings
Summary: It's a school night and they are going out. That never happens. And Mom and Dad seems jittery. Where are they going?


_This is what happens when you manage to cross off an item from your bucket list (an item you thought you'd never cross off) with one of your best friends and you lose your voice singing for two hours songs that were written before you were born. And you're both fans of Castle._

 _It's unbetaed and written for the heck of it. Also, it takes a lot of things for granted, things that may change tomorrow for all I know so… take it for what this is, the product of my hyperactive imagination._

* * *

They rarely rarely went out on a school night. Mom and Dad did their very best to put all three of them to bed at regular hours every night, making sure they'd all have enough sleep so they wouldn't be grumpy the next day. Mostly Jake. He could be insufferable when he missed his nap or didn't sleep long enough at night.

But something was different that night. Both Mom and Dad - strange, usually it was only one of them - had picked the three of them from school and brought them home. Lily had thought it was just a special occasion, maybe Mom had managed to get out of work earlier than usual and Dad, well Dad was just Dad, he always picked them up from school, but while in the car, she noticed her parents were sort of… hyped.

They looked like nine year olds on a sugar rush. They were jittery, as if they were waiting for something. Mom kept mentioning tickets, if Dad had printed the receipt for something and Dad constantly told Mom to remember the ear protections for the kids. She didn't understand this impatience, as she read her book huddled in the corner of the couch, so she let it go and waited for dinner while her brothers played with their Lego on the carpet.

But when Mom and Dad emerged from their bedroom wearing two identical t-shirts of an old band they listened often when in the car, jeans and sneakers - and Mom rarely wore sneakers - her attention peaked again. "Mom?" she called. "Are you going anywhere?"

Mom smiled. "As a matter of fact, we are, Lily."

"Is Alexis coming to watch us?"

Dad smiled. "No sweetie, we're all going out. Come on kids, put on your shoes and your jackets, we have to be at the Madison Square Garden in an hour."

They went with the subway, not with the car. Lily kept her eyes fixed on their brothers as she held tightly to the pole during the run. The subway always fascinated them and they were excited, wide eyed and mouths gaping as the stations flew by them. They didn't seem to be fazed by the disruption of their routine, or they simply were having too much fun to care about it, but Lily was older and knew that if they were going out on a school night, it must be a special event.

Bud Dad didn't have a book signing, or a launch party. And they were never held at the Garden, it was too big and while Dad was a famous author, he certainly wasn't Patterson. And even Patterson didn't hold signing events at the Garden.

"Lily, are you alright?" Mom asked.

"Yes, Mom, just… where are we going? We have school tomorrow!"

She ruffled her hair. "Don't worry about school, honey. Nothing's going to happen if you skip a day on a special occasion."

"But what is this special occasion?" she asked as she grabbed Reece's jacket lapel and stopped him from licking the filthy window of the car.

"Jake, Reece, don't lick things, it's gross! Honey, you'll see when we get there, but don't worry, we won't make you lose too many school days this year. And if tomorrow you'll feel like it, you can go, no one is stopping you."

"You're going to work?"

"Actually I took the day off, because I thought you guys would want to stay home from school and I want to spend the day with you."

"Oh…" That was nice. Mom had a very demanding job, she couldn't take many days off just to spend with them. Except for vacations and the occasional sick day, she often had to go to work even on her days off because Uncle Javi and Uncle Kev needed her help. That must be a really special occasion. "I'll stay home then."

Mom smiled. "Thanks Lily, I was really hoping you would."

When they finally arrived at the Garden, a large crowd had gathered outside of it.

"We watch ball?" asked Jake, not entirely happy. He was more of a baseball guy, much to their grampa's happiness.

"No Jake, we're not watching basketball tonight," Dad replied. "You'll see when we're inside."

That seemed to settle her brother and he happily strolled at her side, holding her hand tight while Reece held the other hand. As they walked towards the box office, Lily noticed that pretty much everyone was wearing the same type of t-shirt her parents wore.

"Mom?" she called then, finally having formulated a theory.

"Yes Lily?"

"Are we going to a rock concert?"

Dad laughed behind them, while Mom didn't seem too happy. "The t-shirts gave it away, didn't they?" She nodded. "Ah well, yes Lily, we're going to a rock concert."

"But you said Queen didn't exist anymore!"

Reece jumped at the mention of the band. He loved them as much as his twin adored Bruce Springsteen. "Queen? Mommy, we go to see Queen?"

"Lily, it's a bit complicated," said Dad. "The moment we're settled and we got you something to eat we'll explain, okay?"

It took them a while, but they finally got to their seats. They were pretty close to the stage, a bit secluded from the rest of the seats, not like a sky box - they had gone up there once for a big basketball match with the Ryans and Uncle Javi, and from up there she could barely see the players but the adults seemed pretty happy with it. This time, they were in the front row of the upraised seats and they had all the room they wanted. They'd sure see everything from there!

"Alright kiddos, I'll go and fetch dinner, you stay here with Mom and behave, understood?"

The twins nodded as they looked around. She answered for them. "Yes Dad, we'll be fine."

She sat on the seat beside her mother. "So?"

"So what?"

"I thought Queen were no longer a band."

"Oh that… Well, it's a bit complicated, because Queen never officially disbanded. They lost their frontman in 1991 because he was sick, and for a while they stopped. But the others wanted to keep playing, so they looked for another singer, found one and started playing again. Then they found another that apparently fits them better and here we are. You like Queen, right?"

Lily nodded. "Yes, they're cool, even if they're a little old."

Mom giggled. "Are you calling Mom and Dad old for their music taste?"

"No! It's just…" She made a quick calculation in her mind. "They were around fifteen years before I was born, that's a long time!"

Mom wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her against her chest. "Sweetie, they were around before _I_ was born. Their first album came out when Dad was four."

She was speechless. "Wait, are they as old as grams and gramps?"

Mom nodded. "I think they are, sweetie."

"Wow… I thought people retired after a while."

"If you love your job, you try not to. And believe me, they love their job."

Dad returned just in time with enough food to feed a small army. Jake and Reece were starting to fuss because they were hungry, but when they were finally seating with a hot dog bigger than their arm in their hands, they munched contently, their happy faces smeared with ketchup and bread crumbs.

The Garden was filling with people, all excited like her parents.

"Mom?"

She swallowed her bite. "Yes?"

"Have you and Dad attended many concerts?"

Her parents looked at each other. "Together, not many," said Dad. "On our own, I guess we saw a lot of concerts, yes."

"What's it like?"

"Loud," Mom exclaimed. "Really, really loud. Sometimes so loud you can feel it in your chest, and it's fun, with the bright lights, and you sing and dance and… Lily, it's amazing. It's a rush of adrenaline like nothing else."

Her eyes were sparkling, she was really excited to be there. And Dad too. The twins… they were the twins. Hyperactive bottomless pits that would do anything for junk food. Like any other kid of their age. They looked just happy to be eating their hot dogs and drinking their juice, a stark difference from the usual dinner.

"What are you drinking?"

Dad raised an eyebrow behind the plastic cup filled with an amber, foamy liquid. "Beer. Want to try?"

Lily didn't miss the glare he received from Mom. "What, Beckett… I'm not buying her a whole pint!"

"She's seven, Castle!"

"So what? Mother made me try wine when I was five!"

"And look how you turned out!" exclaimed Reece, parroting Mom when Dad said something like that. It happened quite often.

They all laughed and her little brother beamed with pride for the well placed joke.

"Come on Lily, try it. Nothing will happen with a single sip." Dad handed over the cup, but the moment she took a whiff of it she handed it back.

"I'll stick to juice."

About half an hour after the lights went out. Dad quickly put back his phone they were using to play charades. "Hey, kids, put on these." He gave them three brightly colored ear muffs, one purple for her, one lime green for Jake and one bright blue for Reece. Their favorite colors.

"Why?"

"Because the music will be really, really loud. You don't want to be deaf tomorrow, right?" Lily shook her head and donned the muffs.

Suddenly, a loud boom shook the arena and colored lasers flashed on the cheering crowd.

"Here we go!"

Holding tightly the railing in front of her, Lily felt her heart skip a couple of beats when the music suddenly started. Immediately, the people around her went crazy, her parents included. They never screamed, sometimes they argued but never raised their voice and in that moment, they were yelling behind her like children in kindergarten.

It was crazy, like the show in front of her. The new singer wasn't exactly like the one she knew from Dad's iPod, but he was good. He wore a strange mask and she couldn't see her face for a couple songs, until he finally took it off and realized that she knew the guy.

"Mommy!" she screamed above the loud music. "Mommy it's Adam Lambert! It's Adam!"

Mom leaned and kissed her forehead. "Yes Lily, it's him. Now you understand why it's a special night?"

She loved Adam Lambert. He was her favorite singer of all time, she had all his albums and she and Alexis geeked a lot over him and everything was even more exciting now. She looked down at Reece and he was absolutely hypnotized by the action on stage, but that was an easy task, ever since she could remember, he had loved Queen. His first word was _scaramouche_ too, so many times he had listened to _Bohemian Rhapsody_ when he was a toddler. Jake on the other hand preferred The Boss but when she looked at him he was the mirror image of his twin brother in different clothes. The fact they were identical helped a lot making this funnier than it was. They were both holding tightly to the railing, their chins pressed on the back of their hands and their mouths open and eyes bawling, while their little feet moved as they tried to follow the fast rhythm of the drums.

The songs were amazing, like she remembered from the records but also new and different at the same time. It was probably the fact that they were playing live and not on record, she couldn't really understand it. The first few songs she didn't know too well, but when songs they knew better came, she couldn't help but scream her little lungs out as she sung, along with the twins and their parents.

She looked up at them and saw that they were singing too, way better than them - she loved when Mom and Dad sung together, she loved their voices - holding hands. They were jumping at times, or at least Mom was, Dad had a bad knee and he didn't like jumping. It was so funny, especially when they started acting out the songs, like during _Don't Stop Me Now_. At that, each of them picked up one of the twins and her Dad helped her so she could stand on the seats. It was one of their favorite songs and Dad was so funny as he tried to reach the higher notes and failed miserably, but she didn't care. They were having a lot of fun together and she couldn't stop smiling and laughing and singing.

On _Somebody To Love_ Dad even kissed Mom and for once she didn't think it was yucky. And Mom said something strange after _I Want To Break Free_ , she said the F word - probably Mom thought they couldn't hear her - and then something about a guy named Will and how stupid she had been all those years before. And Dad laughed, so hard he had to put Jake down and lean on the railing because he was laughing so hard he couldn't breathe.

Then came _Bohemian Rhapsody_ and Reece just went nuts. Dad even gave her the phone to film him because he was just too funny as he tried to sing every part of the song. He couldn't pronounce half of the words yet, but he was so convinced even Jake barged in and the solo attempt became a broken down duet. They didn't know if they had to bang their heads or move their butts and they looked like tiny puppies that were learning how to shake off the water from their pelt after bathtime.

But the magic couldn't last forever. The last song rolled by way too soon and when the lights turned on again, the magic was over. Gone was the loud music and the blinding lights and the spell was gone as they slowly made their way out of the Garden.

Jake and Reece fell asleep during the ride home, crashing mid-sentence on their parents' shoulders, the rush of the concert faded away quickly from their little bodies.

Lily didn't last longer though. As soon as they were home, she felt stripped of all energy.

Mom even had to help her getting ready for bed, so wiped out she was.

"It's been a while since you needed help." Even Mom noticed it, as she tucked her in. "So? You had fun?"

She nodded. "Yep… even if I have to skip school tomorrow."

From the twins bedroom where Dad was putting them in their beds, beside her own, came a single, sleepy voice proclaiming his undying love for Queen and they laughed. Lily could almost picture Reece sleep talking while Dad tried to undress him without waking him.

"Thanks Mom, it was a great night."

She smiled and ran a finger down her ear shell to her chin. It tickled. "I'm happy you liked it. You wouldn't mind then if in a couple of months we do something like this, but with another singer?"

"School will be out in a couple of months, Mom," she replied. "I guess it will be fine."

"Great, because Dad managed to to grab the tickets to see The Boss, but don't tell Jake, it will be a surprise."

"Don't worry Mommy, your secret's safe with me."

"Great. Now sleep tight little girl. We'll have some fun tomorrow, if you guys can wake up."

Lily giggled. "I'll count on that."

Mom leaned closer and kissed her cheek. "Sweet dreams," she whispered as she turned off the light.

She fell asleep almost immediately, and when she woke up the next morning, she walked down the stairs just in time to see Mom and Dad singing their lungs out to Somebody To Love while they prepared breakfast for everybody.

Alexis would probably scold her, but for once, skipping school didn't seem so bad.


End file.
